New York Video
Background: New York Video was founded in 1986 in Buffalo, New York to distribute television shows and films made by independent companies on videocassette. A year later, he leased an office building in another part of Buffalo for the headquarters and opened a satellite office in neighboring New York City, closing it in 1994. From 1989-2000, NYV also handled the rights to shows by Jean-Reiss Productions, Detroit Studios, member PBS stations (such as WFSU-TV and KBYU) and Scholastic Productions. In October 2000, shortly after selling the rights to Scholastic programming to New Video and PBS stations to PBS Home Video, NYV was dissolved into 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 1st Logo (1987-November 1994) Nickname: "The Neon City" Logo: On a black background, a neon skyline is drawn in. Then the words "NEW YORK" in the Korinna font slowly enter the screen from the bottom, settling below the city. Then the words "VIDEO" (in the same font) also enter from the bottom, scrolling up slightly slower before settling below "NEW YORK". The logo fades out to make room for "PRESENTS". Variants: *At the end of tapes, there's a short version with the word "VIDEO" enter from the bottom and no "PRESENTS" (On the 4th The Simpsons Spotlight VHS tape, "Bart the General/The Call of the Simpsons", this logo can even be seen at the beginning instead of the standard logo.), but not all releases have this variant. *A still version exists. This can be seen on the 3rd Simpsons Spotlight VHS tape "Bart Gets an "F"/Bart's Dog Gets an "F"". FX/SFX: The neon skyline drawing and the text scrolling... Cheesy Factor: ...which is overall cheap, plus, the skyline (mostly) don't represent the actual New York syline AT ALL. Music/Sounds: A sampled synthesized piece from the track Friedmann Bach from Klaus Schulze's 1978 album X, which was also used for the 1st & 2nd Atlas International logos and the North American Releasing logo. Music/Sounds Variant: There's also a silent version. Availability: Rare. Seen on NYV releases between 1987 and fall 1994 such as Hooked on Aerobics tapes, The Tracey Ullman Show tapes and all five volumes of the Simpsons Spotlight VHS compilations. Scare Factor: High to nightmare, mainly due to the music, the darkness and the city skyline drawing, which makes a scary combination. Medium for those who are used to it. 2nd Logo (November 1994-2000) Logo: On a sky background, a CGI version of New York City, complete with World Trade Buildings and the Manhattan skyline is zoomed up to the street slowly zoomed up to reveal a city skyline of New York with the World Trade buildings. Then the box zoomed out and reveals the word "NEW YORK VIDEO" in a Times New Roman font wiping in. The logo zooms out to reveal the words "THE FINEST IN HOME VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below and the logo fades out to make room for the word "PRESENTS". Variants: *At the end of tapes, a short variant exists that start out with the word "THE FINEST IN HOME VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below and no "PRESENTS" (On 11th and 13th Simpsons tapes, "The Otto Show/Dog of Death" and "Colonel Homer/Black Widower", this logo can even be seen at the beginning instead of the standard logo.), but not all releases have this variant, like the previous logo. *A still version exists. This can be found on The Simpsons tapes, specifically "Lady Bouvier's Lover/Bart's Inner Child" and "Bart's Girlfriend/Another Simpsons Clip Show". FX/SFX: CGI animation, which was done by Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. Plus, the texts are in 2D. Music/Sounds: A stock music track called "World Champion", composed by Keith Mansfield, used in other places such as the late 70's CTV Special Presentation bumper and the VCX Video and VC-II Video logos. Music/Sounds Variant: There's also a silent version. Availability: More prolific than the previous logo, but still rare. It can be seen on several mid-late 1990's The Simpsons tapes (look at a mom-and-pop video shop, a thrift/second-hand store or Ebay for those), which are mostly your best bet as several were released during the show's original airing. Also seen on every VHS release of Body Electric and Lion vs. On the Red: Redmeption. Scare Factor: Low, the World Champion music combined with the CGI New York skylines, which startle may you.